Kirit Kaushik spins NK Khanna to win over Rajnigandha, into semis

As he walked back to the pavilion, bowled by a shooter that almost stayed along the ground before reaching him, Mayank Rawat signalled to the man in charge of the Haryana Cricket Academy (HCA) ground where the DDCA Hot Weather quarterfinal between NK Khanna and Rajnigandha Achievers was being played out on a trying pitch.

"What kind of pitch have you made," shouted Rawat.

The non-striker Dev Lakra, his skipper, also chimed in with his concern. NK Khanna were chasing 151 after Rajnigandha had been bowled out for 150 in 31 overs and the chase was anything but easy.

Arpit Rana (34 off 24 balls; 7x4s) had begun well, playing well-timed strokes to take the team to 61/1 in seven overs. But then Rana flicked one straight to deep square leg. Young Ashmeet Jindal and Rawat followed soon after, done more by the pitch that was being exploited by the spinners -- Yogesh Kumar, Yshveer Nagar and Puneet Mehra -- well.

The slow and low pitch was perhaps why skipper Dev Lakra decided to take the surface out of the equation and start hitting big. He slammed three sixes, one of which went out of the park and into the neighbouring farmland, and three boundaries which helped the team get 40 runs in 28 balls with him contributing 33 off 21 balls (3x3s, 3x4s). Lakra, who is a pace bowling all-rounder, was unlucky to have been caught at the boundary -- the rope on the portion of the boundary where he was caught had moved out inadvertently and he was caught by Puneet Mehra outside the marked boundary line. But the fact that the catch was taken inside the rope, and the new boundary was so for both the teams, and that the word of the fielder is accepted in the absence of third umpire, he was declared dismissed.

It was here that Yash Dhull, who came in late in the batting order, in the company of young 16-year-old wicketkeeper Abhiraj Gagan Singh took the task in his own hands and guided the team to a four-wicket win and into a semifinal clash against Sporting Club at the St Stephen's Ground on Thursday.

Kirit Kaushik (left) and Abhiraj Singh (right)

The pitch wasn't suited to dabs as a horizontal bat shot was considered risky. If the ball were to keep low, there was a chance of the ball slipping through. Dhull ensured that he played straight during his unbeaten 25 off 14 (3x4s, 1x6). Abhiraj was impressive too, he also ensured that he covered the trajectory and once came up with a lovely sweep shot. Abhiraj had led the Delhi under-16 team this season.

But the target would have been tougher, in fact ungettable, for NK Khanna had it not been for the inspiring spells from left-arm spinner Kirit Kaushik (4/21) and leg-spinner Divjot Singh (3/30).

Kaushik was brought into powerplay and immediately made an impact with his arm balls, taking two wickets with the new ball.

"The pitch was soft at the start of the match. I bowled in powerplay, and tried to get as many wickets as possible," said the 17-year-old who was part of the Delhi under-19 team and took 10 wickets and aggregated 120 runs.

"This season was great with Delhi under-19. Will try to improve on it next season," said Kaushik, who has taken 15 wickets in 10 DDCA (Delhi and District Cricket Association) League matches and six wickets in two DDCA Hot Weather games.

In other quarterfinals, FCI beat Sonnet by eight wickets, Sporting Club beat Telefunken by five wickets and LB Shastri thrashed Indian Air Force by eight wickets.

Tags : Kirit Kaushik, Delhi cricket, DDCA, Yash Dhull, Mayank Rawat, Dev Lakra